Changes

The origin of the word museum derives from the Musaeum that once stood in ancient Alexandria in Egypt from around 300 BC and lasted as an institution through the Roman period. This original structure once contained the famous library of Alexandria. While many ancient works, in particular writings, were collected in this institution, its core focus was on education and research. <ref>For more on the Musaeum and ancient Library at Alexandria, see: El-Abbadi, Mostafa. 1992. The Life and Fate of the Ancient Library of Alexandria. 2nd ed., rev. Paris: Unesco/UNDP.</ref>Lectures, presentations, and teaching were conducted here during the Ptolemaic and Roman eras. In essence, it was an institution that became comparable to our modern concepts of universities. Therefore, museums , early in their conceptual history, became places of education and research and not simply places that housed ancient objects. Utilizing the knowledge of the past, including from very distant cultures, became one of the key missions of the Musaeum. This is similar in concept to our modern research museums that both display ancient objects but also conduct scientific research.